TW202212014A - container transfer mechanism - Google Patents

Abstract

An object of the present invention is to provide a container conveying mechanism with a simple structure that can suppress the time when the container is received by the chain attachment even from the chain plate to the chain attachment protruding in the same direction as the rotation axis of the sprocket. Or the time difference when the container is handed over can reduce the deviation of the container transfer position, and can prevent the container from being scratched or dented. The solution of the present invention is that a container conveying mechanism 100 is provided with: a chain 110 which alternately connects the inner link plate 111 and the outer link plate 115 in the longitudinal direction of the chain; a plurality of sprockets 119; and a container conveying path R, It can be transported in the direction of travel of the chain 110 by pushing the cylindrical container C in the upright state by the chain attachment 113 provided on the chain 110; wherein, the chain attachment 113 is set so that starting from the inner chain plate 111, It protrudes toward the direction of the rotation axis of the sprocket 119 and toward the container conveyance path R side.

Description

container transfer mechanism

The present invention relates to a container conveying mechanism for conveying containers in a container filling apparatus, and more particularly, to a container conveying mechanism that pushes and conveys containers by a chain attachment provided on a chain.

Generally, as a container conveyance mechanism which conveys a container in a container filling apparatus, the structure which pushes a container by the chain attachment provided in a chain and conveys is known. For example, Patent Document 1 describes a sampling device for articles, which is provided with a container conveying mechanism that restrains a can body by a chain with a toothed body, and moves on a discharge conveyor belt at a constant speed and the like The pitch conveys the can body to the extraction position, and the can system is handed over from the can rolling and sealing carousel of the can rolling and sealing line to the discharge carousel.

The toothed body chain of the sampling device of the article described in Patent Document 1 is wound around a drive sprocket and a chain sprocket on the passive side, wherein the drive sprocket has a self-winding and sealing turntable for receiving cans. The rotating shaft of the turntable is the same, and the chain sprocket on the passive side is arranged at the extraction position. In addition, the chain with a toothed body can transport the cans to the extraction position at a constant speed and a constant pitch on the discharge conveyor by receiving the cans between the chain appendages, that is, the toothed bodies. The chain appendages , which is formed by protruding from each plate of the outer link plate and the inner link plate of the toothed body chain according to a predetermined interval in the direction orthogonal to the rotation axis of the sprocket. [Prior Art Literature] [Patent Literature]

Patent Document 1: Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 1-285523

(The problem that the invention intends to solve)

However, the container conveyance mechanism provided in the sampling device of the article described in Patent Document 1 still has room for improvement. That is, according to the container conveyance mechanism provided in the article sampling device described in Patent Document 1, the chain with the toothed body is wound around the drive sprocket and the driven side chain sprocket, wherein the drive sprocket has the same The rotating shaft of the discharge carousel is the same, and the chain sprocket on the passive side is arranged at the extraction position. Therefore, the discharge carousel must be integrated with the container conveying mechanism, which will cause the toothed chain and the discharge carousel. The number of interference parts increases, and there is a risk that maintenance and adjustment will take more time. In addition, since the sprocket on which the toothed body chain is wound is a rotating shaft in the same direction as the rotation axis of the discharge turntable, in order to wind the toothed body chain, it is necessary to ensure a wide space in the lateral direction, so that the limited width can be avoided. In-device configuration becomes difficult.

Here, although the direction perpendicular to the rotation axis of the discharge turntable can also be considered as the rotation axis, and the sprocket for the chain with the toothed body is provided separately from the discharge turntable, but if the self-constructed toothed chain is installed Each chain plate of the body chain is raised, so that the protruding chain appendage, that is, the tooth-shaped body, is formed in the same direction as the rotation axis of the sprocket, and is set between the chain plates along the direction of the rotation axis of the sprocket due to play. The slight deviation of the gap may cause deviation in the time when the can body is received by the tooth body or the time when the can body is handed over, or the contact point between the can body and the tooth body changes and the can body is likely to be scratched.

The present invention has been made in order to solve the above-mentioned problems, and its object is to provide a container conveying mechanism which can be constructed simply from a chain plate to a chain appendage that protrudes in the same direction as the rotation axis of the sprocket, that is, a tooth. It can suppress the time difference when the container is received or handed over by the chain attachment, that is, the toothed body, so as to reduce the change of the container transfer position, and prevent the container from being scratched or dented. (Technical means to solve problems)

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, a container conveying mechanism of the present invention is provided with: a chain; a plurality of sprockets on which the chain is wound; The chain attachment pushes the upright cylindrical container to be conveyed in the traveling direction of the chain; in the container conveying mechanism, the chain is press-fitted into the inner chain plate by a pair of left and right inner chain plates. The bushing of the bushing hole, the connecting pin rotatably inserted into the bushing, and a pair of left and right outer link plates equipped with the pin holes for fitting the connecting pin, and the inner link plate and the outer link are constituted. The plates are alternately connected in the longitudinal direction of the chain, and the chain attachments are provided so as to protrude from the inner chain plate toward the rotation axis direction of the sprocket and toward the container conveyance path side. (Compared to the efficacy of the prior art)

According to the container conveyance mechanism of the first aspect, since the chain attachment system is provided so as to protrude from the inner link plate toward the rotation axis direction of the sprocket and toward the container conveyance path side, it is not installed in the container conveyance path due to play. The slight gap deviation between the inner chain plate and the outer chain plate causes the position of the chain attachment to deviate, which can suppress the time deviation when the container is received or handed over by the chain attachment, and can reduce the change of the container conveying position. And can prevent scratches or dents of the container.

According to the configuration of the second aspect, since the rotation shaft system of the sprocket is provided in the direction orthogonal to the central axis of the container in the upright state conveyed on the container conveying path, and the chain attachment has a width direction higher than that of the container The range of the center near the chain side is in contact with the shape of the container, which is the container in the upright state conveyed on the container conveying path. Therefore, when the container is received from the device in the rotating motion of the discharge carousel, etc., the chain appendages are surely in contact with each other. On the chain side of the container, the container is conveyed along the side opposite to the chain of the container conveying path, so that the displacement of the conveying position of the container can be suppressed, and the container can be delivered or received stably with the production equipment. According to the configuration of the third aspect, since the contact edge provided on the chain attachment is inclined toward the running direction side of the chain as it approaches the chain, the contact edge of the chain attachment can be in linear contact with the side surface of the container, which is in contact with the side surface of the container. Compared with the case of point contact with the side of the container, it will not generate local force on the container, and can further prevent the occurrence of dents or scratches on the side of the container.

According to the configuration of the fourth aspect, since the chain attachment system and the inner link plate are integrally formed, compared with the case where the inner link plate and the chain attachment body are formed separately, there is no need to consider the positional deviation of the inner link plate and the chain attachment body. In addition, since the number of molding dies and the members connecting the inner link plate and the outer link plate can be reduced, the increase in cost can be suppressed. According to the configuration of the fifth aspect, since the chain slides along the chain slide rail arranged parallel to the container conveyance path, and the chain slide rail is provided with the restricting member that guides the inner surface sides of the pair of inner link plates Therefore, it can limit the positional deviation of the inner link plate toward the rotation axis direction of the sprocket within the extremely small deviation provided within the range for the sliding of the restricting member and the inner link plate.

According to the configuration of the sixth aspect, since the gap between the inner surface of the inner link plate and the restricting member is 0.8 mm or less, the state in which the restricting member and the inner link plate can slide sufficiently can be maintained, and the inner link can be securely moved. The positional deviation of the plate in the direction of the rotation axis of the sprocket is limited to a very small deviation.

Hereinafter, a container conveying mechanism 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

The container conveying mechanism 100 is used for conveying the container C in the container filling equipment S, and as shown in FIGS. 1 , 2 and 7 , it has: a chain 110 which slides on a chain slide rail (not shown); a drive The sprocket 119 and the passive sprocket (not shown) are wound around the chain 110; Conveying in the direction of travel.

As shown in FIG. 3 to FIG. 5 , the chain 110 has a pair of left and right inner link plates 111 and a pair of left and right outer link plates 115 , and two bushings 117 are provided on the inner link plates 111 for press-fitting. There are two bushing holes 112 on the outer link plate 115 , and two pin holes 116 for fitting the connecting pins 118 are arranged on the outer link plate 115 . In addition, the chain 110 slides by sandwiching the guide rail 120 between a pair of left and right inner link plates 111 , and the guide rail 120 functions as a restricting member disposed on the chain slide rail (not shown). The driving sprocket 119 and the driven sprocket (not shown) are provided with rotating shafts along the horizontal direction, and are wound around the chain 110 in the vertical direction.

A pair of left and right inner link plates 111 are connected to each other in a manner that their relative positions remain unchanged across a bushing 117 that is press-fitted into the bushing hole 112, and a pair of left and right outer link plates 115 are connected by The connecting pins 118 rotatably inserted into the bushings 117 are engaged in the pin holes 116 and connected in a manner that their relative positions remain unchanged. In addition, a predetermined gap tL is provided between the adjoining inner link plates 111 and the outer link plates 115 , and the pair of left and right inner link plates 111 and the left and right outer link plates 115 are configured to be connected to each other through bushings 117 . The relative rotation of the connecting pins 118 is mutually rotatable.

A chain attachment 113 protruding toward the container conveyance path R side is formed on the upper surface of the inner chain plate 111 on the side of the container conveyance path R among the pair of left and right inner chain plates 111 . The chain attachment 113 has a contact edge 114 that is in contact with the container C conveyed on the container conveyance path R and is pushed in the conveying direction. , and the contact edge 114 is inclined toward the traveling direction side of the chain 110 as the contact edge 114 approaches the chain 110 .

Furthermore, a conveyance rail (not shown) is provided on the container conveyance path R on the side opposite to the chain 110 side, and this conveyance rail prevents the container C from falling off the container conveyance path R. As shown in FIG. In addition, the advancing route is guided by sliding the bushing 117 on the upper surface of the guide rail 120 and sliding the inner surface side of the left and right inner link plates 111 to the side surface of the guide rail 120 .

6 and 7, the conveyance method of conveying the container C by the container conveyance mechanism 100 which concerns on one Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated.

First, after the container C has been processed in a previous step such as a filling machine, it proceeds to a production apparatus M such as a can end sealer on a container conveyance path R (not shown). At this time, since the chain 110 is synchronized with the production device M, the chain attachment 113 can move the container C to a suitable position within a constant time when the container C is transferred from the container transport path R to the transfer point on the production device M. at the handover location.

The chain attachment 113 conveys the container C by pushing the side surface of the container C with the contact edge 114, but since the contact edge 114 contacts the side of the chain 110 earlier than the center of the container C in the width direction, it is conveyed along the side of the container C. The guide rail (not shown) conveys the container C handed over from the production apparatus M on one side, so that displacement of the conveying position of the container C can be suppressed, and the handover or reception of the container C and the production apparatus M can be stabilized. In addition, since the contact edge 114 is inclined toward the running direction side of the chain 110 as it is closer to the chain 110 , the portion where the contact edge 114 can contact the side surface of the container C is extended in a line shape, even if the contact edge 114 is suddenly violent contacting the side of the container C, the container C is only slightly deformed for a short time and is linearly in contact with the contact edge 114 in a wide range. Therefore, no large force is locally applied to the side of the container C, and the side of the container C can be prevented. dents or scratches.

The contact edge 114 is inclined toward the running direction side of the chain 110 as the contact edge 114 is closer to the chain 110. Therefore, if the chain attachment 113 is displaced in the width direction of the chain 110, the contact position between the container C and the contact edge 114 will change. Therefore, there may be deviations in the handover or acceptance time of the container C between the production device M and the chain attachment 113 , which may cause abnormal noise when the container C is in contact with the chain attachment 113 , or may be pushed by the contact edge 114 . If the direction of the container C changes, the container C may be pushed to the conveyance guide rail (not shown) excessively, causing scratches or dents. In addition, when the container C between the production device M and the chain attachment 113 is handed over or received, the container may be sandwiched between the chain attachment 113 and the pocket (not shown) of the production device M. C is likely to be scratched or dented, so it is extremely important for the stable conveyance of the container C to suppress the positional displacement of the chain attachment 113 in the width direction of the chain 110 .

For example, the main cause of the positional deviation of the chain attachment in the width direction of the chain is the deviation of the predetermined gap tL provided between the inner link plate and the outer link plate of the chain. In the chain 210 of the reference example shown in FIGS. 8 and 9 , a chain attachment 213 is provided on the outer chain plate 215 . Since the inner link plate 211 slides the guide rail 220 provided on the chain slide rail (not shown) to the inner surface side of the pair of left and right inner link plates 211 , the position of the inner link plate 211 in the width direction of the chain 210 The offset is within the gap tG.

On the other hand, although the inner link plate 211 and the outer link plate 215 are provided with a predetermined gap tL for relative rotation to each other, during the period when the chain 210 slides on the chain slide rail (not shown), the left and right pairs of The relative positions of the link plate 211 and the pair of left and right outer link plates 215 in the width direction of the chain 210 are offset, so that the gap tL can be offset to one side.

At this time, if the shortest distance between the center of the container C and the chain attachment 213 is ds in a state where there is no deviation in the gap tL, the gap tL is offset in the direction in which the chain attachment 213 is separated from the container conveyance path R. The shortest distance dn between the center and the chain attachment 213 is less than ds, and the gap tL is greater than ds when the gap tL is biased toward the direction in which the chain attachment 213 approaches the container conveying path R. The difference between ds and dn, and the difference between ds and dw, respectively, are the main reasons for the deviation of the time when the container C between the production device M and the chain attachment 213 is handed over or taken out in a state where there is no deviation in the gap tL.

The chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention has the chain attachment 113 attached to the inner link plate 111. Therefore, even if the gap tL between the outer link plate 115 and the inner link plate 111 deviates, the chain can still be moved. The positional displacement of the attachment body 113 in the width direction of the chain 110 is limited within the range of the gap tG, so that the variation of the contact position or the contact time between the container C and the contact edge 114 can be minimized. That is, it can stably implement the transfer or take-over of the container C between the production device M and the chain attachment 113 .

Furthermore, the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention is formed by integrating the chain attachment 113 and the inner link plate 111. Therefore, compared with the case where the chain attachment 113 is formed separately from the inner link plate 111, the chain attachment There is no need to prepare parts for connecting the chain attachment 113 to the inner chain plate 111 , so that the weight can be reduced and there is no need to worry about falling off, and the cost increase can be further suppressed. In addition, it does not need to take into account the adverse effects of taking or handing over the container C between the production device M and the chain appendage 113 due to the positional deviation when the chain appendage 113 and the inner chain plate 111 are connected. . In addition, it is more preferable that the gap tG is at most 0.8 mm or less, whereby the change in the contact position or the contact time between the container C and the contact edge 114 can be reliably suppressed to a minimum.

The embodiments of the present invention have been described above in detail, but the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and various design changes can be made within the scope of the essence of the present invention described in the scope of the patent application.

Furthermore, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the structure in which the chain attachment and the inner link plate on the container conveying path side are integrally formed has been described, the structure of the chain attachment is not limited to this, for example, it may be combined with the inner link plate. Formed separately, it can also be connected to both of a pair of left and right inner link plates. In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although it has been described that the guide rail is provided on the chain slide rail as the restricting member for sliding contact with the inner surface side of the inner link plate, the configuration of the restricting member is not limited to this, for example, it is also possible to use The outer peripheral edge of the inner link plate is formed to be larger than the outer peripheral edge of the outer link plate, and the restricting member is formed into a groove shape for the inner link plate to slide.

In addition, in the above-mentioned embodiment, although the structure in which the container conveyance mechanism is arranged between the filling machine and the can sealing machine has been described, the arrangement of the container conveyance mechanism is not limited to this. For example, it may be arranged in the container washing machine. between the device and the container drying device.

100, 200: Container conveying mechanism 110, 210: Chain 111, 211: inner chain plate 112: Bushing hole 113, 213: Chain appendages 114, 214: Contact edge 115, 215: outer chain plate 116: pin hole 117, 217: Bushing 118, 218: connecting pin 119: Drive sprocket 120, 220: guide rail (limiting member) M: production equipment S: Container Filling Equipment C: container tL: the gap between the inner chain plate and the outer chain plate tG: the gap between the inner link plate and the guide rail R: container transport path

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram showing an example of a container filling facility S provided with a container conveying mechanism 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the vicinity of the container conveying mechanism 100 as an example of the container filling apparatus S provided with the container conveying mechanism 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4 is a plan view showing the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A' of the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram showing a conveying state in which the container C is conveyed by the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 7 is an enlarged view showing a conveying state in which the container C is conveyed by the chain 110 of the container conveying mechanism 100 according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram showing the conveyance state of the container C by the chain 210 of the reference example. Fig. 9 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line B-B' showing the chain 210 of the reference example.

110: Chain

111: Inner chain plate

112: Bushing hole

113: Chain appendage

115: Outer chain plate

116: pin hole

117: Bushing

118: Link Pin

Claims (6)

A container conveying mechanism is provided with: chain; a plurality of sprockets on which the above-mentioned chain is wound; and A container conveying path, which has a chain attachment provided on the chain, and can be conveyed in the traveling direction of the chain by pushing the cylindrical container in an upright state by the chain attachment; It is characterized by: The chain is composed of a pair of left and right inner link plates, a bushing that is press-fitted into a bushing hole of the inner link plate, a connecting pin that is rotatably inserted into the bushing, and has a fitting A pair of left and right outer link plates of the pin hole of the connecting pin is formed, and the inner link plate and the outer link plate are alternately connected in the length direction of the chain. The said chain attachment is provided so that it may protrude toward the said container conveyance path side toward the rotation axis direction of the said sprocket from the said inner link plate. The container transfer mechanism of claim 1, wherein, The rotation axis of the sprocket is set in a direction perpendicular to the central axis of the container in the upright state conveyed on the container conveying path, The chain attachment has a shape that contacts the container in a range closer to the chain side than the center in the width direction of the container, and the container is a container in an upright state conveyed on the container conveyance path. The container conveyance mechanism of claim 1, wherein the chain attachment has a contact edge that contacts the container on the container conveyance path and pushes toward the advancing direction side of the chain, The said contact edge inclines toward the advancing direction side of the said chain, as it approaches the said chain. The container conveying mechanism of claim 1, wherein the chain attachment system and the inner link plate are integrally formed. The container conveyance mechanism of claim 1, wherein the chain slides along a chain slide rail arranged in parallel with the container conveyance path, and A restriction member for guiding the inner surface side of the pair of inner link plates is provided on the chain slide rail. The container conveyance mechanism of claim 5, wherein the gap between the inner surface of the inner link plate and the restriction member is 0.8 mm or less.

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